Court hears how official 'forged' 400 certificates

A court yesterday heard how the head of the Small Ships' Section within the Malta Maritime Authority (MMA) asked a clerk in his section to "turn a blind eye" to forged certificates that led to the issue of nautical licences.

Police Inspector Ian Abdilla testified that during investigations into false licences the head of the Small Ships' Section, John Farrugia, and clerk Ivan Muscat released detailed statements in which they admitted their involvement.

In the statements Mr Farrugia explained how he became involved three years ago and had since filled in about 400 false certificates. When Mr Muscat noticed what was going on, Mr Farrugia asked him to turn a blind eye and he did, according to the statements.

Inspector Abdilla was testifying before Magistrate Audrey Demicoli in the compilation of evidence against Mr Farrugia, 60, of Fgura, and Mr Muscat, 30, of Zurrieq, who are pleading not guilty to their involvement in organised crime, accepting bribes and forging documents on and before June.

They are charged with forging MCAST (Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology) documents, defrauding the college, making malicious use of forged documents and committing a crime they were duty bound to prevent.

Inspector Abdilla said that on March 24. an MMA official reported that there were irregularities in the nautical licences issued by the authority.

He explained that according to the Small Ships' Regulations of 2001, a person in charge of a sea vessel with an engine that exceeded 100HP had to have a nautical licence.

Usually, these persons would attend a 15-day course in Basic Seamanship at MCAST which cost Lm50. Once they completed the course they were awarded a certificate which they then presented to the MMA to apply for the nautical licence against a Lm10 fee.

Inspector Abdilla explained that an internal audit at the MMA Small Ships' Section revealed a discrepancy between the number of MCAST certificates and the number of nautical licences issued by the MMA.

The police carried out a reconciliation exercise which showed that 1,780 nautical licences had been issued without an MCAST certificate.

He explained that some of these 1,780 were genuine since there were cases of people who were exempt from attending the course - either because they formed part of the AFM Maritime Squad or because they had some other qualification.

It turned out that, of the 1,780, about 454 were suspicious.

The inspector went on to explain that the police had heard rumours that people were paying up to Lm200 to obtain this licence illegally. So, he added, the question was why were these people willing to fork out Lm200 to obtain a licence that would otherwise cost Lm60?

It turned out that in some cases it was because these people did not have the time to attend the 15 evening lectures. For them it was more feasible to pay Lm200 than to lose business. Others just felt they did not have the level of education required to pass the MCAST test.

Inspector Abdilla added that on July 12, the police arrested four MMA employees who were directly involved in the issuing of nautical licences. These were the head of the department Mr Farrugia, his secretary Alice Peplow and two clerks Alexander Mizzi and Mr Muscat.

They were all taken to police headquarters for questioning. Ms Peplow and Mr Mizzi looked very surprised at what was happening, he said.

After some time, Mr Farrugia said he wanted to come clean and explained how three years earlier a contractor, Alfred Mizzi, had approached him and asked him to help him obtain a nautical licence for a person who did not have an MCAST certificate.

Mr Farrugia agreed to help. Mr (Alfred) Mizzi gave him a blank MCAST certificate and Mr Farrugia filled it in and passed it through the system. He told the police that after this first incident Mr Mizzi went to him several times, each time with a blank certificate for him to fill in.

Mr Farrugia said that for each certificate he was paid Lm20. He filled in about 400 certificates in three years, the inspector recounted.

Mr Farrugia also told the police that Mr Muscat, a clerk, then realised there were irregularities in the applications. When Mr Muscat approached Mr Farrugia, who was his boss, to tell him about these irregularities Mr Farrugia told him to turn a blind eye - which he did. Mr Farrugia and Mr Muscat then started sharing the Lm20.

Mr Farrugia said that no one else from the MMA was involved with him and Mr Muscat, the inspector testified.

Police then questioned Mr Muscat who initially refused to speak but then corroborated the version given by Mr Farrugia.

Inspector Abdilla said the two versions matched except for a few details. For example, Mr Farrugia said he and Mr Muscat each got Lm10 per application. Mr Muscat said he received about Lm50 in an envelope every four to six weeks.

The police also spoke to Alfred Mizzi (the contractor) who confirmed knowing Mr Farrugia but categorically denied paying him to issue licences.

From further investigations, it resulted that MMA employees Alexander Mizzi and Ms Peplow were not involved. Police also questioned about 450 people who had allegedly obtained their licence illegally and these were expected to be charged in court over the next few weeks, the inspector said.

At the end of yesterday's sitting, Magistrate Demicoli ruled that there were sufficient reasons for the indictment of the two defendants.

Lawyers Edward Gatt, Michael Sciriha, Ian Farrugia and Franco Galea represented the two men.